A Jacobean Cotswold manor on the Stanway Estate, with an ornate gatehouse and a dramatic gravity-fed fountain - passed on Stage 2 between Stanton and Wood Stanway.
Stanway House is a Jacobean manor of honey-coloured Cotswold limestone in the village of Stanway, beneath the escarpment between Broadway and Winchcombe. The house has been a family home of the Tracys of Stanway and their descendants, the Earls of Wemyss, since the sixteenth century. Its three-storey gatehouse, with scallop-shell finials above shaped gables, is one of the most photographed frontages on the northern Cotswold Way.
The Cotswold Way crosses the Stanway Estate on Stage 2 after Stanton, through parkland associated with the house and its gardens. Beyond the gatehouse the estate is known for a dramatic gravity-fed fountain - among the tallest of its kind in the world - which plays on selected summer afternoons when water and weather allow. Walkers on the trail see the house and gatehouse from the path and from the lanes around the village; a formal visit to the interiors and fountain is a separate, timed outing.
The house and garden are typically open on Tuesdays and Thursdays in June, July, and August, from 2pm until 5pm, with a tea room serving cream teas and light refreshments. Opening days, ticket prices, and fountain times change - confirm details on the Stanway House website before you plan a diversion. The address is Stanway House, Stanway, Cheltenham, GL54 5PQ. Dogs on leads are usually welcome in the grounds; telephone ahead for access notes if you need step-free routes.
Combine a visit with Stage 2 overnight stops at Wood Stanway or Stanton, or with a short taxi hop from Broadway. Hailes Abbey and Cromwell's Seat lie a little further south on Stage 3 if you are continuing toward Winchcombe the next day.
